Thursday, October 2, 2014

Trance-former/Performer

I'm attending the joint
annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies and the Archaeological Institute of America in New Orleans from January 6 to 11th 2015 (really excited to finally
be going to New Orleans!). I'm on a panel called Greek Shamanism Reconsidered,
and I'm presenting a paper titled "Trance-former/Performer: shamanic elements in Late
Bronze Age Minoan cult". Here's the abstract:

The religion of Late Bronze Age Minoan Crete was
characterised by several features that can be termed “shamanic”. These include
ecstatic trance, dialogue with spirits, divine possession, the traversing of
other worlds within a tripartite vertical cosmology, and therianthropic
metamorphosis. Such activities were publically performed at cult sites situated
upon mountains and within caves, as well as at urban locations. In addition
they were engraved upon gold signet rings and stone seals, thus the events were
both recorded and advertised through the multiplication of images associated
with the Minoan administrative sealing process. Initially interpreted in the
early twentieth century as blanket depictions of possession, Minoan cult
procedure was characterised as involving the ingestion of psychotropic
substances, the arrival of a possessing deity in the form of a bird, and the
subsequent possession of the human participant – all of which manifested in
frenzied dancing signifying a loss of control (Evans, 1901). Later scholars
modified this diagnosis of possession, suggesting that rather than being “out of
control” the scenes depict altered states of consciousness in which
participants underwent non-ordinary bodily states but which were not
necessarily characterised by the loss of control suggested by the term
“possession” (Morris and Peatfield, 2002). Analysis of “shamanic” activity
within Minoan religion can be more precise however. This paper argues that,
along with images of classic ecstatic possession, glyptic art also depicts
scenes of entasy in which spirits appear outside human figures, soul journeys to
different realms, and the subjective trance experience itself. Three types of
evidence will be used to support this contention: glyptic art, architecture,
and the Minoan landscape. The main focus will be on miniature glyptic scenes on
gold rings and stone seals. These depict images in which male and female
figures exhibit extensive motor behaviour such as dancing and violently shaking
trees, and alternately calm, contemplative visionary states whilst leaning over
baetylic stones. Human figures also communicate with tiny airborne human and
animal figures, see hovering abstract forms, and undergo possession by, and
subsequently enact the role of, deities. These performances occur within the
natural landscape, at peak or rural sanctuaries, in caves, and at urban sites.
Scenes depicting the subjective trance state, shapeshifting, metamorphosis and
therianthropic hybridisation will also be analysed. Architectonised versions of
peak and cave sanctuaries such as stepped platforms, tripartite shrines, column
shrines and pillar crypts, which evoke the idea of a central world axis through
referencing trees, pillars and mountains, and incorporate the vertical
cosmology of the Minoans within an urban environment, will also be examined.